


Fourth of July

by happyaspie



Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Concussions, Fireworks, Fourth of July, Head Injury, Hospitals, Hurt Peter, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Just Making Sure That's Clear, Peter Has a Healing Factor, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter is a good kid, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, Tony Stark is helping, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, the author is not a doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-05-19 01:19:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19346626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: All Peter wants to do is enjoy the Fourth of July.  When everyone else is busy he decides to go out as Spider-man and get the best possible veiw of the fireworks.  Unfortunately, this leads to a mid-swing collision that leads to the one and only Tony Stark taking care of an amusingly concussed kid.  Thank goodness for his healing factor.





	Fourth of July

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans. 😉🎉🇺🇸 Stay safe my friends.

It was the Fourth of July and Peter had no plans.  None.  Ned went to the beach with his family, MJ had plans to go out of town with her dad and May had been drafted to fill in on an overnight shift.  With nothing better to do, he slipped into his Spider-suit and took off towards the city.  As it turned out, The Fourth of July was the best time to swing through the city. People were out and about, everyone was generally in a good mood and best of all, after nightfall _there would be fireworks._

 

At one point, early in the evening, he'd landed in the midst of a neighborhood block party.  He'd danced, won a game of twister and been handed a hamburger straight from the grill.  Thanking the man who'd been thoughtful enough to offer it to him he swung off to the top of a nearby building to eat.  This wasn't how he'd wanted to spend the evening but he was happy.  This was fun too.   

 

Once darkness began to fall, he took off from the top of the building and started to head towards where the largest fireworks display would be taking place.  The best place to watch any kind of fireworks would be from the air and Spider-man sort of had the upper hand on that. He could swing from building to building and not miss any of the action as he went and, as it turned out, there was defiantly a lot to take in.  In between shooting his webs, Peter's eyes darted between the colorful displays that were just starting to light up the sky and the unequivocal excitement of the people below.   He was happy.

 

Just as he'd settled himself into what had to have been the best possible place to watch the large bursts of sparkling lights, something below him caught his eye.  There was a man weaving himself through the large masses of people.  That wouldn't have been so concerning if was periodically looking up at the sky but he wasn't.  He was slinking between people, intermittently pausing to make sure no eyes were on him and then hurrying back off into the crowd.  The whole thing was suspicious so with a heavy sigh, Peter started in his direction.  He hoped that dealing with the obvious pickpocket wouldn't take long.  He'd really wanted to watch those fireworks.

 

The thing was that Peter wasn't the only one who's decided that 'from the air' was the best way to see the show.  Which led to a problem.  With his attention spread thin, he'd failed to notice the done that there was hovering in the air nearby.  That led to his second problem as he swung directly towards it, causing a mid-swing collision.  Despite the fact that it was of a decent size and had a camera on board, the drone couldn't have weighed more than three pounds.  Though, combined with the velocity it may as well have been twenty-five.

 

The second the done made contact with the left side of his head, he saw stars.  Literal stars.  Then taken by surprise he let go of the web, landing in a heap on the top of a tall hotel building.  He lay there, unmoving for several minutes.  His thoughts, so distant that it felt as if his soul had escaped his corporeal being.  At some point, the pain in his head started to seep into his consciousness and caused him to try to uncoordinatedly move himself into a better position. 

 

Groaning, he rolled over onto his back.   The movement felt strange like he was floating, or swimming, or maybe floating while swimming, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.   It wasn't until then that he heard Karen trying to address him.  "Peter, I detect a concussion.  Would you like for me to contact Mr. Stark?"

 

It took a few seconds too long for the question to process.  "I don't--", Peter slowly started to slur out but the AI made the decision for him.

 

"--Contacting Mr. Stark."  

 

"Dang it.", Peter sighed out before closing his eyes. He wasn't so much sleeping as much as he was trying to pull himself back into his own body.  Though, the next thing he knew he could hear Tony's voice ringing loudly in his ears. 

 

"Wake up, Pete!  No napping.  I'm on my way to get you.", the man shouted from across the line as Peter squinted at the image in front of him.  

 

He'd wanted to tell the man that he wasn't sleeping but he could seem to find those words at the moment.  "Wha-Why?", he asked in confusion.  Why would Tony be coming to get him?  That seemed weird, usually Happy came to get him.

 

Looking less than impressed by Peter's reaction, Tony's eyebrows knitted together in concern.  "Because you hit your head, Kid."

 

Peter lay there for several very long seconds as he tried to remember if that was true.  His head did hurt but he didn't remember hitting it.   "I did?", he finally slurred out.

 

"Uh, yeah.  You were swinging through the city and conked your head on a drone.  ... _a drone,_ Pete.  How do you get into these kinds of messes?", Tony asked with a small smile gracing his lips despite the severity of the situation.  The kid was a mess.

 

After a couple of minutes of silence, Peter brought his hands up in front of his face.  He watched himself with wonder as he wiggled his own fingers in front of his face.  Then after a moment brought them the rest of the way up to temples.  "Did, did I hit my head or something?  It hurts.", he asked, looking vaguely towards Tony's image displayed in the corner of the HUD.

 

Tony sighed because it was going to be a long night.  "Yep, hit your head.  Now, hang tight,  I'm about to land behind you.", Tony commanded as he carefully dropped from the sky with a quiet thud.

 

By the time Tony had exited the suit and made his way over to where Peter was laying.  The boy seemed to have already forgotten that he was coming at all.  "Oh, hey, um, Mister, uh, Mister... Tony... Man.", he stuttered when the man came into veiw.

 

"Mister Tony Man?", Tony asked with an eyebrow quirked in amusement, though he was sure that amusement wasn't the appropriate response.  

 

Peter blinked owlishly back at him for a second before saying anything else.  "What, what are you doing here?", he asked not completely sure where 'here' was.  

 

"I'm here to take you to the medical wing.", Tony said honestly as he knelt down beside Peter on the rooftop and started fumbling in his pockets as if he were looking for something.  It only took a moment for him to retrieve the small item he was looking for and hold it up in front of Peter's face.

 

"Why?", Peter asked, scrunching up his brow.  He tried to think back to what would make the man think that he needed to go to the medical wing but couldn't seem to come up with anything.  

 

"You hit your head, Pete.  Remember?", Tony asked quickly as he turned on the pen-light he'd been holding and tried to get a look at the boy's eyes.  Before he could really register anything, the kid was covering his face and turning away from the offending brightness.  He couldn't blame him really.  He knew Peter's eyes were sensitive on a good day.  It was probably ten times worse at the moment.  

 

Carelessly swatting towards his mentor's hands, Peter attempted to block out the sharp, painful beam. "No.  What happened?", he hissed through his teeth when the man didn't instantly put away the tiny flashlight that seemed to try to burn holes into his retinas.

 

"I'll tell you in a minute, look at me.", Tony demanded as he used his free hand to grab ahold of both of Peters.  Finally getting a good look at the boy's blown pupils, he sighed in relief.  At least they were of equal size, that meant there wasn't any immediate threat.  With that made clear, he began to evaluate him a bit further.  "What's your name?"

 

Blinking back in confusion, Peter took several seconds before answering.  "Pete-- Peter-man.  Wait... ", Peter supplied in mild confusion.  He seemed to know he'd said something wrong but couldn't quite grasp what.

 

"Uh huh."  Tony cut in when no other answers followed. "...and what was my name again?", he asked out of curiosity, mostly.  He was wondered what the kid would come up with this time.   

 

Smiling, Peter was quicker to answer that one.  "Mister Tony.", he stated with some amount of certainty though it faltered when his mentor huffed a laugh and began to shake his head in good humor.

 

"Right... because I'm your preschool teacher now.", he said with a smile.  Any other time he was sure that a comment like that would have gotten some sort of indignant reaction from the boy but when none came, he moved on.  "What year is it?"

 

"Two-thousand and one.", Peter answered confidently as he tried to pull himself up into a sitting position but Tony wouldn't allow it.  He placed a hand firmly on his chest and gently eased him back to the ground.

 

Once he had Peter back in a reclined position he smiled. "No, Pete.", he replied shaking his head.  "Not your birthday.  What year is it right now?" Tony knew that he shouldn't be taking this much delight in the kid's disoriented answers but he couldn't help it.  

 

Unsure of the answer Peter tried to take a guess.  "Oh.  um.  Two-thousand and, uh, seventeen."  When Tony shook his head, Peter smiled and counted forward.  "eighteen?", he questioned next.  Then when Tony held up his finger and gestured for him to go up once more he shouted, "Nineteen!",  smiling even more broadly.

 

Technically, speaking Tony should have been continuing to ask him the day of the week and who the president was but he figured he had enough to go on already.  "Okay.  You're coming with me.", Tony said with finality as he reengaged the Ironman suit and scooped the obviously concussed boy up off the graveled rooftop.    

 

About halfway into the flight, Peter started moving around in the man's arms in an attempt to see below them.  After having to readjust his grip several times Tony'd finally shouted for him to stop moving before he dropped him.  Peter stilled at the threat however, he continued to try to look around for several minutes. "Where are we going?", he'd asked eventually.

 

"To the Medical wing.", Tony answered with a sigh.  "We're nearly there.  Just, just keep still."

 

"What happened?", Peter asked as Tony slowly lowered them to the ground and started carrying him towards the room that had, eventually, been set up just for him.  At this point, Tony made a point to keep that particular room stocked with some of the kid's clothes and made sure to keep the extra soft sheets on the bed.  The fact that the kid needed a room in the medical wing dedicated to him should have been alarming but Tony had sort of accepted it at this point.  The kid was a hero.  Reckless... but a hero all the same ...and that wasn't likely to change anytime soon.  

 

Faceplate no covering his features, Tony rolled his eyes. "You were chasing after some petty thief and got knocked in the head by _a drone._ "

 

"Oh. Did I catch him?", Peter grunted out as he was placed onto the bed.  He'd had to squint in the bright fluorescent lighting of the hallways and was happy for the more subdued illumination once they had walked through the heavy wooden door.  That was yet another adjustment Tony had made to that particular room. The lights were soft and the brightness was adjustable to fit the situation. 

 

"No, Kid.  He got away but don't worry about it.  The police will get him.", Tony provided, as he pressed the spider emblem on the suit causing it to deflate.  He then watched as Peter struggled to get his arms out.  Once the kid started trying to get the suit past his hips, Tony tossed the sheet up over his legs and handed him a soft t-shirt to change into. 

 

"Did you call Aunt May?", Peter asked once he'd managed to wrestle himself out of the suit and into the t-shirt.  

 

Tony smiled again.  At least the kid had remembered _her name_.  Maybe his little healing miracle was already kicking in.  "Yep. Told her not to worry about it.  I've got you."

 

"My head hurts.", Peter complained, with a slight whine as he handed the suit to Tony and pulled the sheet up to his chin.  

 

"I bet it does.", Tony replied with a snort before going to fetch the kid an ice pack.  While he didn't want to offer him any kind of pain killers at the moment, an ice pack would be something at least.  

 

When he returned Peter looked blankly in his direction.  "Did I hit my head?", he asked hazily.

 

"Yeah, Kid.  You did.  You got hit in the head by a drone.", the man once again provided.  He wondered if how many times he was going to have to tell that story and considered switching it up next time just to see what happened.

 

"That sucks.", Peter grumbled.  "Did you call Aunt May?"

 

Sighing again, Tony took a seat by Peter's head.  "I did, Kiddo."  

 

After a few minutes of silence, Peter swayed his head from side to side a couple of times. "I feel weird.", he mused.

 

Unsure of what the kid meant and whether or not it should be concerning, Tony stood up to get a better veiw of the boy's face.  "Weird how?", he asked already making a mental checklist of everything he would need to do should things escalate. 

 

Stilling completely, Peter scrunched up his face in thought.  "Like, like... that one time...", he started but no other words left his mouth.  

 

Tony tried and failed to come up with anything the kid could possibly be referring to.  "Come again?", Tony asked.

 

That question seemed to snap Peter out of whatever thoughts, or lack of thoughts he was having.  "Huh?", he asked, shifting in the bed so that he could see his mentor better.

 

Tony forced himself to relax.  He had an MRI right there if the kid didn't snap out of it in the next couple of hours. Worst case scenario he could have a team of doctors there in minutes.  "Never mind.  How do you feel, Pete?"

 

"I think I hit my head, Mr. Stark.", Peter admitted with a cringe, as he felt along the side of his face and around his forehead.

 

"Hey!  Look at you.  You know my name!", Tony half laughed, reaching over to oh so gently ruffle the kid's hair, making sure to avoid the sore spots.

 

"Of course I know your name... who doesn't.", Peter asked somewhat baffled by the comment. 

 

"Uh, you an hour ago didn't.", Tony dutifully provided as he sat back down in the comfortable chair he'd ordered specifically to be placed beside that bed.. "...and before you ask: You got hit in the head by a drone while chasing down a pickpocket."

 

Nodding his head as if he understood, Peter moved on.  "Did I catch him?"

 

Tony dropped his head into his hands and tried not to groan.  "Nope."

 

As Peter tried to register what the man was telling him he was suddenly struck by another thought.  "Did you call Aunt May?"

 

The man made a noise that seemed to be something between a laugh and a grunt of frustration.  "yep.", he answered before pulling out his phone to work on one thing or another.  Normally Peter would have tried to lean over to see what he was doing but tonight the curiosity just didn't seem to be there.  He considered pointing that out but decided not to.  The kid didn't need to be trying to read his screen with a concussion.  

 

After a few minutes, Peter rolled over onto his side, flinching when pressure hit the sore part of his head.  He quickly readjusted himself to ease the pain and looked over at Tony.  "Mr. Stark?", he asked in order to gain the man's attention.  "What did you say happened to my head?"

 

Smiling, Tony decided to mess with the kid some more.  "We were sparring.  I won.  Knocked you clean out.  One punch.  Just... Bam. You went down like a ton of bricks.", he said with a nearly straight face.

 

Peter blinked back at him for a full minute before smiling.  "Nuh-uh.  That's not what happened.", Peter said in mild disbelief.  While he honestly had no memory of the injury he was pretty sure that wasn't it.  First of all, Tony would never hit him that hard, even in the Ironman suit.  Second, Tony had never beaten him in a sparring match.  Not once.  His reflexes were just too quick for the man to be able to get in much more than a glancing blow. 

 

"It is.", Tony tried to insist before losing the battle with himself and laughing.  "Fine.  That's not what happened."

 

Peter nodded but didn't press for any more answers.  Instead, it remained quiet between them for quite a while before Peter spoke again.  "I was trying to watch the fireworks.", he said suddenly, causing Tony to look up from his phone.  The fact that he remembered that was a good sign.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Yeah.  I missed them though didn't I, Mr. Stark.", Peter added sadly.    

 

Tony gave him a small half-smiled and nodded.  "Afraid so." 

 

"Oh.  That's, that's disappointing.", Peter uttered with a long sigh.  " ...How did I get here?"

 

"I brought you here.  You don't remember that?", Tony asked.  Though he wondered if the kid would ever completely remember the event.  It wouldn't be surprising if he didn't.  He was just happy that the boy didn't seem completely out of it at the moment.  Things seemed to be starting to clear up already.  That healing factor of his really was quite the miracle.

 

"Not really.  I think I hit my head and maybe fell?", Peter waveringly suggested.  Something about that seemed familiar.

 

Tony smiled, glad he didn't have to go over the entire series of events again.  "Basically."

 

"You talked to Aunt May, right?"

 

"Of course, Kiddo.", Tony sighed out with a small smile.  

 

The questions eventually started to ease into mild comments, though they continued to be slightly repetitive.  However, when no signs of further injury arose, Tony suggested that the kid go ahead and try to get some sleep.   Peter settled more comfortably onto his side but made no effort to close his eyes.  "What about the fireworks, Mr. Stark?"

 

Knowing what the kid was getting at Tony smiled.  "I'll buy some.  We can have our very own Fifth of July celebration tomorrow night."

 

"Awesome.", Peter breathed out already starting to feel sleep take over.

 

"You know what else will be awesome?", Tony asked with mock excitement.  

 

Too tired and uncomfortable to come up with a good guess, Peter replied with a questioning, "No...?"

 

"When I buy you a cool Spider-man helmet to wear on patrols.", Tony come back with a genuine smile and a nod of his head.

 

"No...", Peter whined.  Though the grin on his face was enough for the man to know that Peter could tell it was nothing more than an empty threat.  

 

"Yes...", Tony teased, the smile never leaving his lips.  "What Mister Tony Man say's goes and he says no more concussions for Peter-man."

 

Between his own joke and the confused look on Peter's face, Tony was full on laughing now.  "I-- What?", Peter stuttered out, trying to decide if his mentor had lost his mind or not. 

 

"Never mind.  I'll show you the footage later.  Right now, you need to go to sleep.  It's late.", he said once the fits of laughter died down enough for him to get the words out.

 

"Hmm.", Peter replied non-committally before realizing that he'd not told his aunt he was spending the night elsewhere. "Did you tell Aunt May?", he asked not wanting her to come home to an empty apartment and worry.

 

" _Yes_.  Now sleep.", Tony said rolling his eyes and patting Peter's shoulder fondly. 

 

This had definitely been the most interesting Fourth of July that Tony could remember. The kid kept him on his toes, that was for sure.  He was a walking disaster and a ray of sunshine all at the same time.  As he watched the boy's eye start to drift closed he couldn't help but wonder what Halloween and Christmas would bring.  Then it occurred to him that he might actually be looking forward to the holidays for the first time in years.  Smiling to himself he half-laughed and whispered mostly to himself.  "You're going to be the death of me, kid.  ...and the worst part is that I don't even mind.

 


End file.
